Slipping Through The Fingers
by nullabutton
Summary: Gerard Lacroix is heading an investigation that may lead to Talon, a mysterious terrorist organisation. Overwatch command has placed young Lena Oxton in the care of the Lacroix couple, and the three soon develop a family like bonding. Gabriel Reyes believe Jack Morrison is taking Overwatch in a wrong direction. In the meantime the Slipstream project approaches its milestone.
1. Chapter 1

#

Gerard Lacroix, the Deputy Head of Investigation, was sitting in his usual place on the long sofa placed against a wall in the Commander's office, facing the opposite wall decorated with medals and recognitions issued by various government heads. The man who generally occupied this vast office was running late from some other meeting, so Gerard was having a bit of 'time off' going through his files on his Overwatch issued portable pad, sipping his second cup of coffee this morning.

On the other side of the sofa sat the Commander of Blackwatch, the covert operations group, the shadowy group of agents who got their hands dirty on behalf of the highly publicized frontend Overwatch. Commander Gabriel Reyes sat silently, also going over the same file Gerard had transferred. They had met many times and were in friendly cooperative relationship. Anything Gerard could not do legally, Gabriel and his men gladly took care of. In fact, Gerard admired the veteran of the Omnic Crisis. Gabriel Reyes and Jack Morrison. The legends who were now heading their respective Watches.

"To be honest, I have doubt about this Talon business." Gabriel broke the silence.

"Hmm?" Gerard gave him a side glance.

"Looks like we just don't have enough leads on them."

Gerard sighed.

"Yeah, you are right."

"Besides, " Gabriel leaned over. "We don't want to overfish our fish, do we?" He winked.

"Oh, come on." Gerard got the joke. "There always will be some bad guys to pew pew at."

The older man chuckled leaning back. "Just point your fingers, son, and I'll blow their heads off."

"As a last resort." Gerard added.

"Ah, you boys with your laws and procedures…" Gabriel threw his hands, mocking despair.

At this moment the door to the office opened and Commander Jack Morrison walked in, trailing his Deputy in command Ana Amari. Jack gestured to the two gentlemen to remain seated, grabbed a wheeled chair from a corner and sat in front of the sofa. Ana sat in between Gerard and Gabriel, making some hand signs to someone outside the open door to bring something to drink. Within a minute a coffee tray rolled in.

#

"Sorry about the delay, gentlemen. Can't be everywhere same time." Jack apologised and the two guests just nodded.

"So, Gerard, what did you want?" The Commander of Overwatch asked, getting straight to the business.

"Commander, I want to talk about the recent accident that killed my boss."

"Terrible loss, I must say." Ana chimed in.

"Indeed, Madam. The thing is...although it looks just like a normal accident on the surface...everyday tragedy, yes, but I have a hunch."

Jack raised one of his eyebrows. Gerard continued.

"I have a reason to believe that his vehicle had been tampered with."

Gabriel leaned forward in his position as Jack raised another of his eyebrows. His decision was quick.

"We have a high regard to your capability as an investigator, Gerard, and that's why you are already a Deputy Head at your age." He quickly glanced at Gabriel and Ana for approval. Not meeting any objections he continued.

"If you think you have a good enough reason, act upon it. You are the Acting Head of Investigation after all...speaking of which," He turned to Gabriel.

"Gabriel, the Council demands that I place you as the new Head of Investigation."

"What? Why?"

"Er..Technically Blackwatch does not exist. Only a select few members of the council knows you are running Blackwatch. So...as far as the Council in its collective form officially knows, I'm letting you rot without a significant role within the organisation."

Gabriel sighed. Gerard sat there blinking. 'What? I can kick off the investigation? Just like that?'

Jack continued.

"I'm going to reject the Council demand. I'm afraid Overwatch can't have you in a public position, Gabriel. Your hands are…"

"Too dirty?" Gabriel suggested.

"Sorry."

"Don't be. I'm OK with it, but I have a lot of dead boys and girls watching over my shoulder, Jack. You be sorry for them."

Jack sighed.

"I assure you that I will never forget the men and women who sacrificed their lives for the greater good of the world."

"Listen to yourself! Listen to yourself, Jack! You listen to yourself saying those words and tell that to the families!" Gabriel burst out, took deep breaths, then quickly calmed down.

"I'm sorry. It's just...you just sounded like a some bullshit politician. I'm sorry, Jack."

Gerard kept silent, but he was getting very uncomfortable.

"Jack, please remember that the families are not being properly cared for." Gabriel pleaded.

"We are aware of the situation, Gabriel, and we are doing our best to secure more budget in that regard." Ana decided to share the aggro with her boss. "But, at the moment Slipstream has the priority."

Gabriel stood up.

"Ah, the miracle flying machine, Slipstream,that bends the fabric of space and time at its will. A weapon platform to end all conflicts anywhere anytime as soon as they arise" There was a sarcasm in his tone. Without further words, he walked out the door.

#

"Well, he got his message delivered." Jack broke the gloomy silence. "Ana, please review what more we can do about the widows and the kids."

"Nothing short of bringing back the dead will be enough. You know that, Jack." Ana sighed, and continued.

"It's not like we can go and tell a kid that his mom died a heroic death while trying to sexually approach and assassinate an NGO leader and by the way here is your college money."

"Aw, fuck, Gabriel." Jack lamented burying his head in his hands.

#

Ana turned to Gerard.

"Son, it's good that you are here. I meant to ask you a small favor."

"Yes, Madam."

"We have a young lady who needs a place to stay for couple of months."

"Yes, Madam."

"Normally we'd put her in the standard accommodation protocol, but the lady in question is quite...she likes to keep things to herself and...how do I put it?" Ana mused for a bit. "Ah, yes. She just sits there and makes her own life dull and miserable and boring as hell."

"What can I do, Madam?" Gerard was puzzled. Ana gave him a warm smile instead

"You and your wife. I know your type of people. Take her in, be a family." Ana ordered, and Gerard could not refuse.

"May I ask who she is?" Gerard inquired. Jack answered instead.

"She's the pilot. She is to fly Slipstream."

#

Gerard thought Gabriel had gone, but the older man was waiting outside the door. They walked side by side down the corridor to the elevator.

"So, son. If you need something from me during your investigation just let me know." Gabriel offered.

"Thank you. I'm just…"

"Surprised you got a green light?"

"Well, yes." Gerard continued. "I mean he didn't even ask what my reasoning was."

Gabriel chuckled.

"Detail is your job. At his level his job is to decide when to trust your judgement, say yes or no, and take the full responsibility."

They stopped and waited for the elevator to arrive.

"Gerard, did you notice how he subtly blackmailed me not to challenge his grip on Overwatch?" The founding member of Overwatch asked.

"Pardon?" Gerard did not understand the question. Even though Gabriel was addressing Gerard he was rather muttering to himself.

"He's taking us to a wrong destination, son. We built this together, but he's now handing it over to idiots."

-to be continued-


	2. Chapter 2

#

"Right, we have a green light, gentlemen." Gerard announced to his colleagues gathered in the conference room. "And ladies." He added, nodding to the female agents among the crowed. He continued.

"As you all know, our late Head of Investigation, Chief Investigator Harold Schmidt, has died in a car accident. At the highest point and the steepest curve of the mountain path his onboard control malfunctioned and the vehicle went straight off the road, down the cliff. The exact timing and the location of the malfunction bother me, people."

A man raised his hand, and Gerard nodded him to speak up.

"Sir, I've done some data mining as you requested. The drive controller...this particular model has had only 0.4% malfunction rate over the past 5 years ever since it came out, and those were mostly attributed to the owners opting out of automatic OS upgrades, sir. "

"Good point." Gerard looked around the room. "Chief Investigator Schmidt had his car checked the day before his accident. This is where we start, people. Let's find out first if some stupid mechanic had made a mistake. Nevertheless, I want you to check on whoever handled Chief Investigator's car. His name, his address, his background, bank account, tax records, everything. I'm handling this personally. All report directly to me."

The meeting was done and Gerard headed back to his office. It wasn't as spacious as Jack's, but he liked it nevertheless. Gerard had not moved into the larger office allocated to the Head of Investigation. He wanted to close the case before making that room his.

As he sat himself down on the reclining chair, a message came through. It was marked confidential. Authenticating himself, Gerard opened the message to find a photo and personal profile of a young woman. She had short dark brown hairs, huge eyes, and the face of a girly school boy with freckles.

"Ah, you must be the Oxton girl." Gerard spoke to the expressionless face of the young pilot. One particular line of her profile caught Gerard's eyes.

 _Hobby / Interests : None_

#

The man entered the mechanic shop and walked straight into the manager's office, trailing a young lady secretary who was complaining he can't just barge in like that. He showed her his identification and she shut up.

"Huh? What's this about?" The manager was rising from the chair behind his desk. The man showed him his free pass.

"An Overwatch agent?! What can I do for you?" The manager forced a friendly smile.

The Overwatch investigator flashed a car registration.

"I need to know who did what to this car."

"OK….let me see our files."

Couple minutes later, the manager fished out a record.

"OK...it came in pretty good shape. Mathias ran the standard check routine, exchanged the comlink module...and that's it." The manager shrugged, transferring the file over.

"You didn't touch the drive controller?" The investigator inquired.

"The record says nope."

"Can I talk to this Mathias person?"

The manager shook his head.

"Sorry, he quit right after this car. Funny though. He had just joined the day before."

The investigator raised his eyebrows, and the manager, good with reading moods, transferred the personnel file on the mysterious mechanic without saying any words. The investigator pointed at the comlink module's model number.

"Anything special about this comlink?"

The manager had a glance, then did a double take.

"That's odd…"

"What's odd?"

"It's not a stock model for this car." He turned to his secretary. "How the hell did this junk end up in our stock?"

The secretary shrugged, and the manager sighed. He turned to his terminal and fished out another record.

"Hm...It's not even on our stock list."

"Can you explain, please." The investigator asked nicely.

"We should not have this here. This comlink module has long been discontinued because of its security issues."

"Such as?"

"Any school kid can hack this piece of crap."

The investigator thanked him, and hurriedly left the shop.

#

The raid to Mathias Jansen residence resulted in nothing. The small rented flat was completely empty, except for an intruder detection device that was attached to the front door. By the time the Overwatch agents turned it off, the device had already sent off an alarm signal to its owner wherever the hell he was. A copy of the rent contract provided by the landlord showed that it had been signed just a week before the suspect joined the mechanic shop. The mechanic had paid the deposit and a month worth of rent in advance in cash.

"So he's gone, and now knows we are after him." Gerard summarised, leaning on the desk in the conference room.

"That is the case, sir." One of his investigators replied.

"And his records?"

The investigator shook his head.

"All forged, sir. At least, we do have his face from the cameras at the shop. Athena is running a global database scan, sir."

"Good. How long would it take?" Gerard inquired.

"Unfortunately, Athena is heavily engaged with the calculations for the Slipstream project, sir. We are low priority."

Gerard ran his hand over his face, suddenly feeling tired.

"The comlink. What's our progress on that one?" He asked.

"t was destroyed by the fire during the accident, but we know of its spec, sir. We got in contact with the airforce base nearest to the accident scene. They ran through the passive EM signal detection records to check the corresponding frequency, and found the bearing of the signal." The investigator pulled out a map on the big screen behind Gerard, and drew a long straight line from the airforce base.

"Somewhere along this line, sir, someone remotely hacked into Chief Investigator's car and messed up the drive controller at the right time." Then he drew another line crossing the first one. It was running from a small town west of the mountain pass.

"We are lucky there was an Army training maneuver around this town, and they had the electronic recon vehicle out, sir. We got another bearing for the signal, and…" He circled at the point where the two lines crossed. "This is where our motherfucker was at the time."

It was a small village about 2km north-east from the accident site.

"We got men moving in?" Gerard asked in a tone that he did not expect a no for an answer.

"Yes, sir."

Gerard checked the time. He was going to be late.

"Right, keep me posted. I have to go now." He stood up. "I've gotta pick up someone from the airport."

#

Commander Reyes was doodling when an encrypted message arrived. The decrypt process took him near a minute, but he was a patient man.

'They are on my trail.'

Gabriel sighed. He sent off a reply, also heavily encrypted. It read: 'Same time. Same place'. When the message was confirmed sent, he made sure there was no trace left in his device. When he was satisfied, he called for his secretary.

"Get McCree here, please."

 _-To be continued-_


	3. Chapter 3

#

The man who went by the alias Mathias Jansen waited nervously leaning on a half collapsed brick wall that once was fencing an Omnic disposal factory. The factory had closed down many years ago, and now stood empty and ruined. This was where he met Commander Reyes from time to time and reported his progress on whatever shady tasks he was given.

He checked his watch again and looked around. His boss was unusually late, which made him uncomfortable. Years of working as a Blackwatch field agent told him he was being scrapped. Most likely that his records had already been purged. The best course of action was to run. Yet he waited a bit more. He wanted to hear it from his boss. He wanted to hear that he did a good job, his service did make a difference and made the world a better place.

Jesse McCree could not stand it anymore. If he waited a bit more the target would begin to develop a false hope. So he stepped out of the shadow, deciding to reveal himself so the man at least died with a full understanding.

"McCree! What are you…"

#

Jesse put his revolver back in the holster, and carried the dead body inside the abandoned factory because disposal was part of his job, too. When he was about to shove the body into a drum filled with waste lubricant that was conveniently standing around, he thought he heard a sound of vehicles approaching from outside. He silently slid the body into the drum and closed the lid as quietly as possible, then hid himself in the shadows, making his way towards one of the many exits. Jesse was already out of the compound and well hidden in the bushes when two black vans appeared. The vans stopped in front of the main gate, and armed men in black fatigues and skull masks poured out. The men fanned out as if looking for something or someone. When they couldn't find what they were looking for, they formed a formation and entered the abandoned factory. Within a minute, Jesse heard a distinct clang of the metallic drum lid hitting the hard floor. He observed that the armed men calmly came out of the building without carrying the dead body, and they displayed no sign of calling the police or emergency service. He concluded that they came here for the same job as his.

He was here on appointment. The mysterious group of men arrived a bit late, which meant their operation was reactionary, which further meant they had been somehow tracking the target. An armed group of men successfully tracking a Blackwatch field agent? It was an interesting news that had to be reported to his boss.

#

Gerard was driving home from the airport, and he was feeling terribly awkward. Any attempt to start a conversation with his passenger had failed flat, and he dreaded resorting to the work related topic, which he was sure would get the girl sitting next to him to talk more than a few syllables. He decided to tackle her from a different angle.

"So, who's topping the UK Pop chart nowadays?"

"I have no idea, Monsieur Lacroix." Lena Oxton answered, staring straight ahead out the front.

"Well...er...these guys! They are hot here in Switzerland and I'm sure you will like them, too. Here, let me…" Gerard fumbled on his audio, trying make it play the song he liked.

"Monsieur, please pay attention to the road."

Gerard gave up.

"OK, sorry, sorry."

He gave her a sideway glance. She was in her dark blue uniform, with the cap on her lap. Her shirts and skirts were stained and wrinkled, showing signs of neglect. Her hair would look OK if combed and styled nicely, and her boyish face definitely needed some makeup. This was someone who did not know how to make herself presentable, yet there was a bit of charm in that somehow. He could not believe how young she was. "And this kid is supposed to be their Topgun?"

"I am not a kid, Monsieur." Lena snapped.

"Oops. Sorry. I didn't mean to say it aloud...I mean you are not a kid, I'm sorry." Gerard facepalmed.

"Monsieur, the road. Please!"

#

They drove the rest of the way in silence, and eventually stopped in front of a two story house located at the outskirt of a decently sized town, about thirty minutes drive from the Overwatch HQ. The sun had already set and the warm lights coming out the windows gave the house a cozy feeling.

"Voila, your new home." Gerard led Lena to the front door. His wife, Amelie Lacroix, a stunningly beautiful woman with a long dark ponytail, opened the door for them. She was a head taller than Lena when she embraced the young pilot.

"So, you are the kid Gerard was talking about." She petted Lena on the back. Lena gave an icy look to Gerard who was mouthing 'no no no' to his wife.

"Come on, I will show you your room. I'm Amelie, by the way." Then she looked at the small briefcase in Lena's hand.

"Come on. Where's rest of your stuff?"

"This is all my stuff, madam."

"But you are going to stay for months." Amelie was shocked.

"All I need is on me, madam."

"Oh, no no. We are not having that. You know what? Let's go shopping tomorrow, and I will show you around the town." She took Lena's hand and led upstairs.

"Call me Amelie."

"Lena, madam."

As the ladies moved upstairs, Gerard threw himself on the living room sofa with a big sigh. He could hear his wife showing the younger girl her room and chatting away about god knows what. He was thankful that Amelie was good with people.

"And drop that Madam stuff, Lena." Amelie shouted over her shoulder as she walked down the stairs. She found her man on the sofa and hugged him tight.

"Well, she's a little bit awkward, but we will manage it."

"You always do, honey." Gerard gave her a light kiss.

#

Gabriel Reyes was at a bar near his home. Jesse McCree's report was disturbing. Gerard Lacroix had not gone that far in his investigation so it clearly was not his job. It was unthinkable that Jack had anything to do with it. So someone outside the organisation managed to identify and track a Blackwatch field agent, with the full intention of a murder. He needed a drink.

"Commander Reyes, may I join you?" A silver haired gentleman in a matching grey suit was asking. From the first look, Gabriel could tell the man was rich. And his tone had a business in his mind. Gabriel looked around and found no one seemed to be affiliated with the gentleman. He nodded the man to sit down. The man in grey suit ordered the same beer Gabriel was having.

"It's an honour to meet you Commander. The world famous man who led Overwatch to victory against Omnic. In flesh!" He extended his hand for shake. Gabriel ignored the hand and moved his own down to the side where his standard issue pistol was resting.

"Now, no need to be alarmed, Commander." The man smiled. It was a genuine smile.

"I'm not a commander anymore."

"Yes, you are. The Commander of Blackwatch."

Gabriel remained silent but alarmed. The man sighed, smiled again, and spoke again in a friendly tone.

"I represent one of your many enemies, Commander. We need to talk."

"About what?" Gabriel snapped.

"About one Mathias Jansen and his involvement in the death of Chief Investigator Schmidt." The man whispered, noticing that the Blackwatch Commander had his hand on the sidearm. He continued.

"When the Chief Investigator messaged us in panic that you were onto him, we formed a plan to sort out the loose end, if you know what I mean." The man winked. Suddenly Gabriel found the topic very interesting.

"So we send in a team to plant a bomb in his car...and can you imagine our surprise when we found an outdated comlink under the hood? It's purpose was so obvious."

"So?" Gabriel urged the man to go on.

"So we had the team withdraw and observe what's going on. We had been tracking him for a while, you know, for security purposes...and decided to also tag the mechanic just in case." The silver haired man shrugged.

"At first we thought the Chief Investigator had angered some other organisations what with his greedy corruption…" the man chuckled. "then we saw Overwatch Investigators storming Mr. Jansen's flat and when we found him dead today? We asked ourselves...who else knew this Jansen person was being hunted by Overwatch Investigators? We suspected maybe it was Blackwatch the Chief Investigator had told us about...sorting out its own loose ends." He added. "Your hand on the pistol confirms our suspicion"

"I'm just doing my job." Gabriel whispered.

"And that is why we wish to talk to you, Commander Reyes."

"What do you want from me?"

The silver haired man looked around.

"We have a great interest in reminding the world of very important things, Commander. Let's talk about Overwatch as an example. Look around you. Look at those young Overwatch generation." He pointed to some young men and women. "Overwatch Generation! The word is even in the dictionary, Commander. An entire generation grew up looking up to you."

He leaned over.

"And, Commander, in return what has Overwatch become nowadays?"

Gabriel felt a pang in his chest.

"It has become an institution, Commander. The brave souls who so fearlessly led the humanity to a new frontier have now become lapdogs of global politics, Commander."

Gabriel removed his hand from the sidearm.

"Why are you telling ME this?" He asked. The man in grey suit smiled. It was an assuring smile.

"Commander Reyes, YOU already know."

Of course, he did.

-to be continued-


	4. Chapter 4

#

Gabriel was sitting in his office, sipping hot coffee. He had a guest in front of him. It was Gerard, the Acting Head of Investigation.

"So we've managed to pinpoint the location where the suspect did his hacking and broke the drive controller." Gerard showed the map displayed on his data pad. "His identity is still not clear, but we've got good image of his face, clear footage of him taking out some communication device from his car, the license plate, etc etc. My guys are backtracking and forward tracking his movement so it's a matter of time finding him. We are also tracing back the serial numbers on the cash he used for the rent payment. Sooner or later we will find out where the money came from."

"Well done. So what can I do for you?" Gabriel inquired.

"We've still got some questions to answer. First, how did he know the Chief Investigator's schedule? His appointment for car check-up, his travel plan...We need to find an answer for that." Gerard went on.

"Second, where was the Chief Investigator going anyway and why? Nobody seems to know."

"That's interesting." Gabriel commented.

"Indeed. That's why I came to ask your help." Gerard took a deep breath. "Does Blackwatch have any file on the Chief Investigator?"

Gabriel drummed his fingers on the desk.

"We have countless stuff going on at any given moment. Maybe we do maybe we don't, but a high profile case such as THE Head of Overwatch Investigation? That kind of stuff must go through me, and I don't recall such a report. So as far as I know, we don't have anything on him. I think you will have a better chance with the Internal Affairs."

Gerard scratched his head.

"They told me the same thing. I should better ask Blackwatch, they said."

"Son, are you questioning the late Chief Investigator's loyalty to Overwatch?" Gabriel asked rather abruptly. Gerard shook his head.

"No, I am just doing my job."

Gabriel drummed his fingers some more, then gave a slow smile.

"Gerard, you are doing fine."

"Thank you."

"So, how is this special guest of yours?" The Commander of Blackwatch changed the topic. Gerard thought about it for a moment.

"She's a weird kid, but Amelie is taking her in alright."

They talked a bit more, and when Gerard left Gabriel sent off a heavily encrypted message to his new friend.

"The investigation seems to be progressing."

Only after sending the message off, Gabriel realised he might have just sentenced Gerard to death. He slapped his forehead "You dumb idiot!" He quickly sent a covert protection order to McCree.

#

Lena was blown away. Amelie took her out for shopping and everywhere they went people were happy to see Amelie. Every dozen or so steps they would stop for a moment to chat with someone Amelie was friend with. When asked 'who is this young lady?' Amelie would casually answer that Lena would fly the Slipstream. The sense of admiration in people's eyes...Lena did not know how to handle such attention.

"Straighten up, Lena. They look up to you." Amelie whispered as they parted another local friend of her.

She brought Lena into one of her favourite clothing shop and had plenty of fun dressing up the young pilot with various attires.

"Now we go and do something about your hair." Amelie commented as she handed over her credit card to the cashier. She had picked several sets of clothes, ranging from underwears to socks to shirts and skirts.

"Madam, I should pay." Lena protested.

"Huh? Why? I'm the one having fun here."

"This is not necessary. Madam."

Amelie threw an authoritative look.

"Lena, starting tomorrow you walk among the heroes. The world could always use more heroes and you have become one." She looked around. "To them you are Overwatch. Making yourself presentable is absolutely necessary." She added. "And drop that Madam stuff, please."

"I, er,...I haven't really thought of it like that, Madam. I mean Amelie." Lena blushed.

"You just listen to your big sis." Amelie led the new Overwatch recruit out onto the street.

"But you are not my sister." Lena protested again, struggling with the newly acquired shopping bags.

"I am practically your big sis." Amelie turned, beaming a smile.

#

It was evening and the ladies were back home in the kitchen. Amelie was almost done preparing the dinner and Lena was setting the dishes.

"Hrng! I can't open this." Complained Amelie as she was trying to open a jar.

"Let me help you Amelie." Lena offered her help, but she too was not able to open it. There was a sound of a car approaching coming from outside.

"Aha, the cavalry is here. Leave it for Gerard to handle, Lena."

.

The dinner was uneventful and the three were having a chat about the Slipstream project sipping hot coffee.

"So what I don't understand is this bending the space-time thingy." Gerard confessed. Lena took some time to come up with a simple explanation.

"You know about 3D and 4D things, Monsieur?"

"XYZ axis and the time, huh?"

"Exactly. A general aircraft choses the spatial coordinate it wants to be. The Slipstream does something more by elevating itself to the fourth dimension, and selects the space-time coordinate it wants to be."

"Hold on. It does sound like those transcendence stuff from the Eastern philosophy." Amelie interrupted. Lena nodded.

"True. The West and East worlds took different paths in explaining the universe, and it took them more than two thousand years and the modern physics to realise that they have come to the same conclusion. We are 3D entities experiencing the 3D shadow projection of an actual 4D world we live in."

Amelie became curious. "So what's it like?...when you elevate or transcend or whatever it's called."

"Let's say I look at you." Lena looked at Amelie. "Normally I'd see you as you are right now. But when I see all space and time things together, I'd be simultaneously seeing the past, the present, and the future of every single particle that makes you you. Basically I would become an all seeing, all knowing god."

"You or the Slipstream?" Gerard raised a question. Lena hesitated. It was a good question.

"That's...to be found out."

"You want to know what I think?" Gerard leaned in. "I think it's a bit of a let down that we need a work related topic to get you talk like a normal person."

Amelie let out a burst of laughter while Lena blushed. Gerard gave a wink, stood up, and went outside.

It was cool and quiet. He looked into the darkness from the safely lit doorstep of his home. He was sure he heard something. Something that resembled a thud.

.

Jesse McCree, leaning on a tree, silently watched the acting Head of Investigation. It was dark and he was sufficiently camouflaged not to be seen. He let out a little grunt as Gerard went back in. "Investigative mind, eh?" he muttered to himself. He looked down at the dead bodies sprawled at his feet. The Blackwatch agent wondered what tipped his boss off. Suddenly an order comes down to watch over (hah! what a pun, McCree thought) the Chief Investigator, and within hours comes a group of armed men? What is going on? He wondered. Nevertheless wondering was not a part of his job. Now he had to get rid of the bodies as quietly as possible. Judging by the sensitivity of his man-of-interest, he would have to wait until well into the night before calling in the disposal crew.

-to be continued...eventually. In the meantime, plz check out my other work "Now a Diva"-


	5. Chapter 5

#

Days have passed and Gerard was driving to the Overwatch HQ. Lena was sitting next to him, silently looking out the window. Amelie had done some magic to the young pilot's uniform, and it was now sparkling clean with no crumples. Lena had received a stern lecture from her acting sister in charge on the subject of properly combing her hairs and of maintaining grooming standard. The result was immediately noticeable, with one downside that Lena now looked way too young for her actual age more than ever before. She had settled in OKish, if one ignored the initial freak out she had meeting a talking Gorilla, which was, to be honest, quite understandable. Overall, Gerard was informed, the Slipstream project was going smoothly according to the schedule. Lena was handling things very well.

Gerard was approaching one particular intersection, and as it had been for the last several days, he sensed his passenger tensing up, uneasy, as if anticipating something. This man made his living by observing small things, reading people, sensing the unspoken, no matter how small, no matter how well hidden. He was the acting Chief Investigator afterall. As the car stopped at a red light, he glanced sideways, and there she was as he suspected.

A tall beautiful lady. About the same age as Lena give or take a year or two. Clad in a thick green apron over a dark jeans and white blouse, arranging pots in front of a flower shop at the corner of the intersection. Getting ready for the day's business as she did every morning. Gerard shifted his focus onto his passenger. Lena was watching the florist, mesmerized. She blushed a bit, sighed, shook her head, and lightly slapped her face with her both hands. She caught Gerard's eyes.

"Any particular flower you like?" Gerard asked. Lena did not answer.

"Something special, perhaps." He commented as the light turned green. Lena sank deep in her seat.

.

#

Commander Jack Morrison sipped his coffee as Gerard fiddled with the data pad. Gabriel and Ana, sitting side by side on a comfy sofa, watched the younger men struggle. The acting Chief of Investigation had been fiddling with the gadget for the past ten minutes. Finally Jack couldn't stand it any longer.

"It's OK, Gerard. I will call the tech in."

"I'm almost done, Sir. Just give me a sec please."

"Overwatch. Creme de la creme of the best of the best. State of the art technology. Yet nobody can figure out how to make the damned holo projector work. Everytime." Gabriel winked to his friend. Jack chuckled back "Good one." Suddenly a 3D projection of what appeared to be the interior of a bar sprang up above the Commander's coffee table.

"Aha, it's working, Sir." Gerard let out a sigh of relief.

 **.**

"So we have been tracking the late Chief Investigator's last days," Gerard started pointing at the hologram. His superior officers immediately recognised then alive Chief Investigator, sitting at a small table, with a bottle of beer in his hand. The 3D footage repeated itself over and over in a comical way. Gerard continued, pointing at the man sitting opposite to his former boss,

"It's a footage from the security camera at a bar not far from here...Chief was a regular there so we checked the camera records...and then this man popped up."

"I know this face." Ana cut in.

"Yes, Madam. This man is one of the suspects of the London incident last year. My guys have been looking for him."

"So have my people. What an irony that he turns up here right under our noses." Gabriel leaned in to have a better look at the 3D projection.

The London incident suspect did not interest him, but what caught his eyes was the silver suit man sitting alone at a table near the entrance, facing towards the Investigator and the London suspect, watching, one hand raised and in motion as the footage repeated itself. As if orchestrating.

Gabriel was a bit irritated. Underworld dwellers lived and died by simple things such as not getting caught on cameras. At least he was satisfied his men on the scene displayed a textbook example of not existing. He could barely make out the outlines of two of his men, blending in so well and never showing their full features, knowing how to exploit the play of lights. Had he not known what to look for he would have missed them.

"But Talon was behind the London case, right?" Jack asked.

"As far as we know, yes, Commander. So what we have here is our Chief Investigator having a private meeting with a suspected Talon operative." Gerard switched the holo footage. It was the same setting, but from a different date.

"Meetings, to be exact." he switched the footage again.

"Repeatedly." Gerard displayed another 3D footage. Gabriel felt a tight knot in his stomach. His new secret friend was clearly visible in all of the footages. This was not good. He threw a quick glance at his pal. Jack was facepalming. Ana, the second in command, muttered under her breath "Schmidt, you dumb fuck traitor."

"So, Sir, I would like to suggest we get the Internal Affairs on board." Gerard suggested.

"No." Jack shot down the idea. "The Council has a liaison at the Internal Affairs. Internal gets on the case, it goes to the Council. The Council learns of this, I get fucked. I get fucked, Overwatch gets fucked. So, no. No Internal Affairs." He sat up.

"Gerard, you handle it. Quietly. And," to Gabriel's horror, Commander Morrison pointed at the silver suited man. "And find out who this is. This guy is in every footage you've shown us."

Gabriel started drumming his fingers on the table.

"Commander, we'd need a global scan, but I'm afraid Athena is busy with Splistream." Gerard commented. His tone carried 'you know what I want, Sir.'

"You have my authorisation on the priority matter. Talk to Winston."

"I will…" Gabriel chimed in. "Blackwatch will sniff around in London. See if anything leads back to this, and," he pointed at the London incident suspect. "How this guy ended up here in Switzerland."

From his side, Ana lightly squeezed Gabriel's hand in her own caring way. "Go ahead, but please keep it low, Gabriel. London is a ticking time bomb."

 **.**

#

Later that afternoon, Gerard walked into the RnD section building to find Winston, the resident talking scientist Gorilla, and Dr. Angela Ziegler engaged in some kind of a hushed secret meeting.

"Come on, cough it up already. What is it?" Greeting the two with a warm smile, he demanded.

"Alright, alright, but you have to keep it secret from T-Racer, Ja?" Dr. Ziegler hushed.

"Who's T-Racer?" Gerard was puzzled. There was a disapproving look from Winston.

"T-Racer is your girl. It's her callsign, didn't you know?"

"Ah, you mean Lena? Well, I just call her Kid." Gerard looked around to see if the said kid was around. "When she's not around, of course."

"We are preparing a welcome party for her and it's going to be a surprise. Hasn't Amelie told you? It's gonna be at your place after all"

Gerard scratched his head. "I don't think she has yet. Anyway, where's the kid?"

The duo pointed towards a monitor on the wall. It showed Lena, in her flight suit, sitting in a mock cockpit.

"She's in the simulator." Winston commented. With a proud tone he added. "And boy she knows how to fly."

Dr. Ziegler joined in, going over a chart.

"Her vitals are nothing but superb. She's as fit as you can get, except..." She frowned over her data pad. "Sugar level has been shooting up. Tell Amelie to go easy on her honey schoko ice cream bomb."

"Oh you gotta be kidding me, Angela." Gerard protested with a hearty laugh. He turned to Winston, now to the business.

"By the way, Winston, I need Athena to run a global scan. Top priority." Gerard pointed at the ceiling with his finger. The scientist gorilla let out a grunt, but nodded. Gerard transferred a cropped image of the silver haired silver suited man from the bar footages.

"I want identification on this man. Also, I need Athena to tap into the regional and see if this guy pops up somewhere."

"How wide and how far back do you want it?" Winston demanded the specifics. Although extremely powerful, Athena's resource was indeed finite. Gerard thought about it for a bit.

"Let's say thirty days. Within ten kilometers of every Overwatch section chief's residence."

Winston gave a puzzled look. "You do realise that includes me, Angela, and you yourself."

Gerard gave a nodd. Don't ask.

 **.**

#

Gerard had hung around the RnD to wait for Lena, and now they were driving back home together. As the intersection of interest came close he again sensed Lena tensing up. The car stopped at the red light, and there she was, bringing in the pots one by one into the shop for the day's closing hour. Gerard could see Lena was lost. She was confused. She was frustrated. Lena hated herself, then she caught Gerard's eyes. God damn it, he knows!

 **.**

They drove the rest of the way in silence, but as the car pulled up at the Lacroix residence, and they got out of the car, Gerard called her gently.

"Lena, we need to talk."

"No." She ignored him, continuing towards the front door.

"Wait, wait. You know I read people..It's my job."

She stopped and turned to face him, her eyes burning with rage.

"No, it's not your job to read me." after a pause she added. "Monsieur."

"But I...er... I see it's eating you up." He had no idea how to handle this. Gerard sighed.

"Look, her name is Sarah. I sometimes buy flowers there. For Amlie... and she's quite a nice person."

Without words, Lena dashed, and punched him hard on the face. She turned, and ran inside, ran past puzzled Amelie, she ran up the stairs to her room, and locked the door behind her. Her heart was pounding like crazy, and it pounded even harder in sync with Amelie knocking on the door. "Honey, what's wrong? What happened?"

Lena threw herself onto the bed, and buried her face in the soft pillow, covering her ears with her hands for she refused to listen her own voice. And she cried for a long time.


	6. Chapter 6

#

Gerard hated the fact that handling things quietly meant dropping his people off the case and doing everything himself. 'Damn it, I should have just gone straight to Internal Affairs' he regretted.

It had been a week since that evening, and Lena had avoided him as best as she could. She took cabs for the commute, while he was just too busy, getting home late well past the diner time. His wife kept pressing on to find out what happened between the two, but Gerard kept his mouth shut out of courtesy for the kid.

He was going through the cash trace record. While Athena was still running a scan on the mysterious man, Gerard shifted his focus back onto Matthias the car mechanic, who was still on the run. The man had withdrawn a large sum of cash from a bank not far from the Overwatch HQ. Forward tracking after that was quite straight forward, but the bank absolutely refused to disclose any records prior to the withdrawal. This granted a personal visit to the bank, Gerard noted. He rubbed his bruised eye. Why is everything happening around so near to HQ?

A notification popped up at a corner of his terminal display, informing him of an incoming call from Winston.

"Hello, Winston. Has Athena -"

It was Lena's face in the messenger window. She was sheepishly avoiding looking at the cam, trying not to make an eye contact with the person on the other side of the network.

"Oh, hey, Lena."

"Chief Investigator, would you be so kind and give me a ride home this evening."

Gerard moved his eyes to the dozen documents and camera footages cluttering his display.

"If you are not too busy, that is." She added.

"It's alright. I will pick you up at six." He closed the call, and smiled.

 **.**

#

The Commander of Blackwatch, sitting in his office, was assessing the situation. He reflected upon his past decisions and actions. By doing so he hoped to find where he made mistakes.

Blackwatch knew what was going on between Chief Schmidt and Talon. It was supposed to be a simple operation, surgically removing cancer cells within Overwatch thereby making the ageing organisation somewhat healthier. Of course he kept it secret from his wartime buddy. News about corruption within Overwatch would have surely devastated Jack. Gabriel would never allow his friend to suffer the disappointment, even if it meant getting his own hands dirty, deciding who needs to go, weeding out bad people at his own discretion. The last thing Overwatch needed was its Commander losing faith in the people under his command.

 **.**

Gabriel was not worried about Overwatch Investigation looking for the London suspect. While the late Chief Investigator was falling down the cliffside, the London suspect was waiting at a secluded place for a meeting with the corrupt Overwatch official. He was instead introduced to McCree's revolver. Gerard would never find the man. What worried him was Athena running after his secret friend. He had sent off an encrypted warning message, but whether his friend did something about it was not under his control.

He was not angry his people failed to notice the silver suit man. Gabriel had rotated his men following the Chief Investigator, and because of that, the continuity, the silver suit man, was not registered to Blackwatch. With hindsight, and a big help from the camera footages, it was natural to speculate that the man was affiliated with the London suspect. Although many things can be said with hindsight, what has been done or not done remained unchanged. Each and every sortie was done by the book, no doubt about that. The problem was at the compiling stage of the information gathered by each 'field trip', and deciding what to do with it. Ultimately, his responsibility. And being a man of responsibility, he took it upon himself to correct where Overwatch was heading.

Even after all these years Overwatch remained the sword of justice. The problem was that Jack was handing over the power to decide what is just and what is not to the politicians. Overwatch rose because that was the right thing to do at the time. Without the power to decide on its own what is right Overwatch would become nothing but a group of highly skilled mercenary, wielded at the discretion of the politicians who have their own interests and agendas. This, ironically, was a view shared by his new secrete friend, a Talon operative.

"Don't get me wrong." He muttered to himself. He loved his friend Jack Morrison. He also loved what Overwatch stood for. Therefore, Gabriel knew, that a time would come when he would have to decide between his friend Jack and the future of Overwatch. That would be the point of no return, he was sure, but for the moment he was undecided. Gerard, on the other hand, was tightening the noose around the old man's neck.

 **.**

#

The bank manager tried to be cooperative as best as he could.

"With due respect, Chief Investigator, we cannot provide the records." He lost the count how many times he repeated this.

"We are going in a circle." Gerard rubbed his temple. "Look, please. My boss was murdered."

"Again, I am deeply sorry about the loss, but please understand my position, sir. I can't hand you over the records unless a written instruction comes down from the regional office."

"Let me guess. The regional needs an order from the Canton court, yes? but that'd take ages, and by the time Overwatch takes the papers to the court, via our friends at the Canton Police, we would have lost the lead!"

The manager raised his eyebrow.

"Oh...I think I finally see the issue here."

"Yes. So please…"

"No, Chief Investigator, I mean the issue is that you do not understand the nature of the account in question, sir."

Gerard was puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

This time it was the manager's turn to rub his temple. He thought for a minute or two whether it would be ok to disclose the information.

"It's not about the timely delivery of the record to you, sir. It's about you getting the approval from the right people. Even a Canton court's order can't scratch this account."

He paused for a second.

"I can't give you the records without the approval, but since you are a verified Overwatch Official I can give you this information now. You see...the account that deposited the money into…" he looked at his note. "Mr. Jansen, is protected not only by the usual privacy policy, but also by a confidentiality agreement between our regional office and…"

"And?" Gerard urged the man to go on.

"And Overwatch Accounting."

Gerard blinked. He was lost.

"Sorry, what? Our Accounting?"

"Yes, sir. To be honest I would suggest you talk to your Accounting for the records. You will get the exact same records as from us, but It saves a lot of paperworks and time."

Gerard thought about if for a moment. It definitely would save a lot of work, though he was puzzled why Accounting was involved in this.

"You are right, thank you, I should ask them. Any particular account names or keywords I should look for?" Gerard inquired.

The manager quickly glanced down his terminal. Oh what the hell, this man is one of the top Overwatch people so it should be OK.

"Yes, Chief. Ask them for Autie's Plumbing AG. I can't give you any more than that."

Gerard thanked the manager and left the bank. He needed to hurry if he was going to make it in time to pick up Lena.

 **.**

#

McCree followed the Chief Investigator', allowing several other cars between the Chief and himself. He was driving a car that was so unremarkable such that if someone later asked a set of passerbys the color of the car they would all give different answers. The covert protection order still stood, so McCree spent most of his time watching over the Chief. He lurked around the man's house at night, followed the commute drive, making sure nothing happened to the man, only getting some sleep when the Chief checked into his office, the safest place in the world. Lately, the Chief developed a habit of slowing down a bit nearing a particular intersection, such that he would always get the red light and stop in the front row. But today the man was turning the corner. McCree followed smoothly, noting the Chief appeared to be looking for a place to park.

 **.**

"You sure about this?" Gerard asked in a worrying tone. Lena had her eyes closed and hands on her chest to calm herself.

"Yes, but I am so nervous."

Gerard found a good spot to park his car.

"You don't have to do this until you are really ready. It's the point of no return for you, Lena."

"Yes, I do reliase that, Monsieur. I am going to do this." the young pilot took a deep breath.

Gerard let out a sigh.

"It is always what comes after that, that is the important bit. There are two types of people once they go past that point." He turned off the engine, and faced his passenger.

"The first type of people...they embrace the fact and live with it. They try to make the best out of what's beyond that point of no return."

"And the other type of people?" Lena opened her eyes. Gerard hesitated a bit.

"The other people. They make things worse. They walk the path of self-destruction because if they do that, you see, having gone past the point becomes the least bad thing they have ever done."

Lena thought about it for a minute or so.

"Do you worry that I would end up like that?"

"Welp, my job is to deal with those kind of people so I have seen bad cases. But you..." He trailed off, looked her into her eyes, taking in her hand. Lena gave a gentle squeeze of assurance.

"Thank you, Monsieur. You were right. I am sick, but I am going to cure myself."

She gave off a light squeeze again before getting out of the car. Gerard watched her as she walked off, turning the corner to disappear into the flower shop….

 **.**

...and she ran back, face glowing red to ears. She jumped into the car and buried her face in the hands

"That was quick…" Gerard commented.

"Let's just go."

 **.**

Gerard kept his mouth shut, but he was dying to know what happened. Lena could sense his curious glances. She sighed.

"I think I messed it up big time."

"What did you do?"

"I blurted out something stupid."

Gerard wondered what stupid thing Lena could possibly have said in those couple seconds she was in the shop.

"What exactly did you do?"

Lena facepalmed. When she told him what she had said to the florist, Gerard facepalmed, too.

 **.**

Amelie did not say anything, but she sensed the tension between the two was gone. This called for a celebration, and she made sure her signature honey schoko ice cream bomb was extra sweet this evening.

"Darling, actually Angela was saying something about Lena's sugar level." Gerard delivered the doctor's concern.

"Aw, rubbish." Madam Lacroix waved it off, watching with a smile her young friend taking in a spoonful. Her phone rang.

"Speak of the devil…" She glanced at the caller ID and mouthed 'Angela' to Gerard. He immediately recognised what the call was about. He watched his wife leaving the table, speaking in whispers to Dr. Ziegler over the phone. The party was supposed to be a surprise for Lena after all. Gerard shifted his attention to the young pilot. He could tell she was really enjoying the schoko bomb special.

"You really said that to Sarah, huh?"

Lena choked on her ice cream.

"Please! You don't need to remind me." Then she craned her neck to see where Amelie was.

"Monsieur, have you told your wife?"

"No." Gerard shook his head.

"Could you keep it that way for a while? She might misunderstand my…" then she blushed.

"Sure, Miss Awkward." Gerard, smiling playfully, leaned over the table, reaching out to her head. Catching Lena by surprise, he pushed her face down onto her plate. Face buried in chocolate ice cream, Lena let out a moan which then turned into hiccups of laughter.

Amelie walked in just in time as Lena pulled her head up.

"Gerard, what are you doing!" She yelled to her husband, rushing to wipe the ice cream off Lena's face with a towel.

"What have you done to this cute face!" She was furious, wiping chocolate brown off her friend's face. Gerard burst out laughing. Lena joined in.

"Just...what is it between you two…" Amelie examined Lena's face. "Are you alright?" She embraced the kid into her arms. "Is everything OK now?"

Lena looked up and nodded. Burying her face into Amelie's chest she smiled. "Yes, I'm OK now." Her laughter gradually turned into a baby's cry. Lena had never felt so alive.

 **.**

#

The leader of the four men bait group checked his watch again. They had been in the shadow for some time, watching, listening, but there was no sign. The group had intentionally made their presence noticeable to anyone who was guarding the Lacroix residence. Another group of four men hiding some distance away was ready to pounce on the prey that took the bait.

Whoever erased the last strike team from the face of the earth was a pro, that was for sure. It was an obstacle that had to be overcome before dealing with the Chief Investigator. But the hunted was not biting the bait. Another twenty minutes passed, and the leader of the bait group became impatient. 'Is the guy even here?' He wondered.

The leader scratched his radio's transmitter to check in his status. A reply from the other group came in the similar fashion. Now that he renewed their attention, it was about time that he took the initiative. He signalled his team to follow, and led them through the woods to the Lacroix residence up fifty meters ahead.

Reaching the perimeter of the house the leader scratched his radio again. Stepping out of the woods meant walking in open. Either the guard bites the bait, or they just go on and straight kill the target. Either way the ultimate outcome would be a dead Lacroix. Then he realised his radio remained silent.

He scratched again. Silence. He put up his hand up for his team to hold, and knelt down. Odd. There was no muffled jingling of gears behind him. No rustle of leaves. No sounds of textiles rubbing as men knelt. He turned his head to look at his men, only to have McCree's serrated blade driven into his throat. Then into the heart. And back into his throat. Jesse McCree made sure the eighth man was dead silent, as he had done with the other seven.


End file.
